The news crews will arrive en masse in Dunblane on Sunday morning. The Andy Murray masks are in every shopfront and pubs are preparing for the crowds.

Every town loves to have a local hero. But for Dunblane, Murray's achievement in reaching the Wimbledon men's singles final carries a particular significance.

For 16 years this Stirlingshire town has been linked with the massacre in 1996 of 16 children and their teacher at Dunblane primary school. Murray was an eight-year-old pupil at the time and managed to hide from the killer. Later, locals would avoid telling people they were from Dunblane in order to avoid the inevitable questions.

Today the associations are all positive. At the Dunblane Centre, which was erected in memory of the children, a community party is planned and a big screen is already in place. Three TV crews are due and they have lost count of the radio and print journalists.

Stewart Prodger, director of the centre, said Murray's name was giving the town a new association, a far happier one. "Very positive indeed, no doubt in that. Andy Murray is our ambassador, our local hero," he said. "We're not likely to forget the tragedy, of course not, but to have more positive associations available is great."

Andy Murray fans react as they watch his Wimbledon semi-final match on television at the Dunblane Hotel. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

Helen Gourley, 37, director of the Hub toy store, said the cheers after Murray won on Friday could be heard all over town. "Dunblane is a very vibrant place, very family-friendly. I was working so I didn't get to see the game, but there was no need, it was obvious he won from the noise outside, it was fantastic to hear!

"Murray's family is always present in the town centre, his nieces are often coming into the store to buy toys, his achievement is a genuine joy of locals."

Interviewers frequently raise the subject of the tragedy with Murray and, although he tries to steer clear of talking about it, he has said he remembered little about the shooting, although his mother has talked of the four-hour wait outside the school to hear if her son was safe as "quite horrific".

Murray has said only: "I was young at the time and didn't really realise how it was a really difficult time for the town, but I think everyone has recovered really well from it and the town has moved on."

Murray's grandparents, Shirley and Roy Erskine, now leave town during Wimbledon after one too many uninvited reporters tried to squeeze into their living room. But Roy has spoken before of the cathedral city's pride. "Fairly early on after the tragedy, they didn't want to talk about Dunblane, but it is quite different now," he said. "It is quite different. Dunblane is Andy Murray. Simple as that."